Pau Gasol's June 4 interview

Q. You obviously had your way with Kevin Garnett last night. Do you expect to see a different Kevin Garnett in Game 2?

PAU GASOL: I expect him and the whole team just to be more aggressive, you know, and with a sense of urgency, understanding the importance of Game 2. But as I expect us to be even more aggressive and be ready for that type of intensity that they might bring.

So yeah, I expect a tougher game on Game 2, more aggressive on individuals, as Kevin probably will be. But I'm sure Rondo will try to be more aggressive. Ray Allen, if he stays out of trouble, he'll probably try to be more aggressive. Probably Rasheed will give them a couple more looks because he had a pretty good shooting night yesterday. So I expect them to be more aggressive all around.

Q. Do you think Kevin will try to be even more physical with you?

PAU GASOL: Like I said, again, I expect the whole team to be more physical because they felt like last night we were the more physical team out there, and they take pride in being the physical team. But again, we've just got to be ready for it. I think our minds are 100 percent into it, and we want to win this Finals, and we understand that winning Game 2 will be important.

Q. When you got to the league as a young guy, you're in Memphis, Garnett is in Minnesota, you guys were going against each other four times a year. What do you remember about the early match ups and how much of a challenge was that for you? He was an established veteran.

PAU GASOL: Yeah, it was a big challenge. He's been one of the top one, two, three fours in the league for all these years, and obviously I had when I came in the league I had great respect for him, and it was exciting you could say for me to go against him, Tim Duncan, even Dirk and a couple of the other guys. So it was fun. I think it was fun. We both competed. I was trying to make myself known, I guess you could say, and try to be successful here because for me it was an adventure. It was a dream come true. I was the second Spaniard that got into the league, so a lot of people thought I wasn't going to make it.

For me I was trying to prove myself but those match ups were fun because he's obviously a great, great player, and it's really, really hard to stop him and go against him. But for me it was motivating.

Q. How would you say you've most changed as a player since then? And if you could say something about Kevin's game that's maybe changed since you first were introduced to him, what stands out?

PAU GASOL: Well, it's been nine years past, so everybody has grown. For me I understand better the nature of the game here. I grew as far as my body and how do I play the game. So I could say that I'm a more mature player and more effective now than I was before I was athletic, lanky. I had more explosiveness than I have now, but I was weaker, also, and I wasn't accustomed to the physicality of the league and the amount of games that are played. But little by little I've gotten better, and I've grown to be the player that I am today.

And also on Kevin's part he's also lost some explosiveness. He's more of a jump shooter now you could say, comes off the lane. Before he had a really, really quick first step and was getting to the lane and he was more aggressive then. Time passes and we all suffer it one way or another, but he's still a terrific player, a terrific competitor, and he's going to bring everything he's got. You can count on that.

I expect a very tough series, and every game will be a battle. So we've got to be ready for it.

Q. You got here two years ago just coming from Memphis, really hadn't had a lot of playoff success. Can you describe just your approach when you first got to The Finals and how much you've grown since then to what maybe led to that performance last night?

PAU GASOL: Well, we didn't have any playoff success to start with, unfortunately. But then when I first got here I was really excited about the opportunity to be a part of this franchise, a franchise that was committed and is committed to win championships, and is built for it. So kind of went through the motions my first year, but I got to experience a lot of things. I gave it my best and fell short in the first Finals.

Now I think I've continued to work even harder to be where I'm at today and won a championship last year, and we're trying hard to win another one this year. It's been a lot going on in a short period of time, but it's all been fantastic really. Can't be happier, any happier, than what I am today, to have had this opportunity and probably destiny and the people that were involved in the trade with any kind of say so in it helped me to be here. So I'm truly thankful to be here and be fighting for what we're fighting for.

Q. Knowing the way things ended that series, how much are you anticipating this opportunity to get payback maybe?

PAU GASOL: Like I said, I don't take it as a payback. Obviously there's some memories there that are hurtful in a good way, and now we're just trying to beat them. That's all we're trying to do. We're just trying to beat we're trying to get that championship and that trophy because we don't want them to get it obviously. That's the only thing. I mean, there's no really revenge in our minds, it's just we just want to win it.

Q. From the time you were in Memphis to coming here, whenever anything bad would happen or the team would fall short, people would say, Pau Gasol is soft. Whenever you didn't fall short and won a championship, people would say he's stepping up, he's the most skilled big man in the game, so on and so forth. How much do you think you've really changed in that time?

PAU GASOL: I think I've grown. And I understand better what is required out there and how hard you have to play and how much you have to work in order to be able to play like that. So to me the game has always been natural, has always come to me natural. I've been talented since a very young age, so I didn't really have to work on certain areas to be successful, and I was just by working obviously, but I still didn't understand everything that I needed to work on in order to be probably one of the top players in the world.

You know, I've done that well lately in the last couple years, and I want to continue to do that.

Q. Do you feel that you really have stepped up, especially as far as playing against physical guys?

PAU GASOL: Yeah, yeah. I had to get myself mentally and physically ready for those type of challenges, just to be able to deliver and play and perform the way I can perform. So yeah, I had to work mentally and physically throughout these two years just to be the kind of player that I am today.

Q. Had you ever received criticism such as you did a few years ago prior to that? And how did you feel about it then? How do you feel about it looking back a few years later?

PAU GASOL: It's something that has really been a question that I've gotten the most throughout these last couple years. I mean, it's pretty amazing to me why it's so, so shocking and such a surprise. To me it's surprising that that was kind of talked. I understood that I didn't play quite at the level that I wanted to play myself, but at the same time I think we played and I played a really good playoffs until that point, and beating tough teams and physical teams. You have a couple of tough losses or tough games or bad games you could say individually, and all of a sudden you've got a label there. I feel like most Europeans, we get that label no matter what. It's just a given. It's like you've got to prove yourself every single game that you're a tough player. It's pretty interesting. But it's more interesting that I keep getting it, which feels like there's nothing better to talk about, which is a little sad.

But at the same time, again, I'm just a competitor, a winner. I want my team to win, and all that matters to me is that. You know, probably all that talk just made me realize that there's some truth to that, but at the same time, I would never question myself like that. I just have to work even harder to be a better player, bottom line.

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